For Whom the Wedding Bells Toll
by reader13lovesbooks
Summary: It's the first White House wedding in over twenty years. Of course everyone's excited.


**This is the June wedding that was kind of joked about/hinted at in my other Emily/Aaron fic, Headlines. It's supposed to be a sequel to Headlines but it can definitely be a standalone. Enjoy!**

* * *

 _7:30 AM_

Aaron wakes up and takes a moment to feel glad that he didn't listen to Seth and instead had his stag night earlier than the evening before his wedding. He's never seen the sense in risking a severe hangover on one of the most important days of your life. He stretches and gets ready for a quick run to work off his nerves.

Not that he has that many nerves; he has zero doubts that the woman he's about to marry is the only one with whom he wants to spend the rest of his life.

* * *

 _8:00 AM_

Alex arranged for Emily to stay at the White House the night before so that the bride would have zero commute time on the big day. Aaron received the same offer but decided he'd rather avoid the chaos of wedding preparations for a few extra hours.

The chef prepares a breakfast with all of Emily's favorite foods. Tom insists that she sits at the head of the table, and she eats surrounded not only by the Kirkmans but also her parents, who flew down last week, and her best friends whom she's recruited as bridesmaids. They seem in awe that they're eating in the White House with the President and First Lady, but Emily, immune to the splendor of the West Wing, just feels like she's with all her closest friends and family on the morning of her wedding, and she can't imagine anything better.

* * *

 _8:48 AM_

Seth holds up a bag of warm bagels and a tray of coffee from Arnold's Deli. "Come on, we're eating in the car. Your tux and everything are waiting for you at the White House."

Aaron's hair is still damp from his shower as he grabs his bag and locks up behind them. "Are we good on time?"

"The President got you a police escort. I think we're good."

* * *

 _9:03 AM_

The room is buzzing with stylists and makeup artists. Leading them all is one Tatienne Tailler, whose usual clients include A-List movie stars and European royalty. Being the First Lady apparently gets you connections, and Alex was deaf to Emily's protests about the expense and trouble.

Tatienne hems and haws, taking Emily's chin between her fingers and turning her face this way and that. Finally, she nods curtly and barks out instructions in French, and the transformation commences.

* * *

 _9:51 AM_

"Seth, where are my cufflinks?"

"Here you go." Seth holds up two paper clips.

Aaron is not amused.

"Yeesh, someone can't take a joke." Seth hands over the real cufflinks. "You holding up, man?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"I know you were kind of upset that a lot of your family couldn't make it."

It is, unsurprisingly, difficult to transport several dozen people from Texas to D.C. Even with Aaron doing so well for himself, his family still wouldn't be able to pool together the money for all the airfare. The President offered his help—"I believe I have a private jet called Air Force One"—but Aaron wasn't comfortable accepting it. The wedding bills were already being footed by the White House; Aaron couldn't possibly add to that.

The Shore-Espinosa clan, however, was able to put Aaron's parents and siblings on a plane with relative ease, and Nadia's already in Washington. It's not like his side of the aisle is going to be bereft of family. Besides, he and Emily have plans to make a trip to Texas sometime soon to celebrate with the rest of his relatives.

"I'm fine," Aaron says, and he means it. He finishes putting on his cufflinks and checks his reflection one last time. Emily likes his curls, so just once, he's opted to forgo his usual hair gel and go natural. "Now if you'll excuse me, Seth, I have a girl to see."

* * *

 _10:02 AM_

Neither the bride nor groom is particularly superstitious, so they disregard the bad luck that's supposed to befall them if they see each other before the wedding. "It's all from the arranged marriage days," Aaron remarked when it was first brought up, "so the groom couldn't back out if he decided he didn't like how the bride looked."

"What if the bride didn't like how the groom looked?" Emily snarked.

"Somehow I don't think we're going to have a problem with either."

Aaron gets to the location of the couple's photo shoot first, but he doesn't wait for long. Soon a gaggle of bridesmaids bedecked in lavender spill out of a side room, and on their heels is the bride in white.

His breath hitches, as the sunlight catches her _just right_ and makes her look almost ethereal. Her veil flutters around her head as she says something to Nadia.

 _This is my future wife. This is the woman I'm going to wake up next to every day for the rest of our lives._ Aaron thanks God and his lucky stars, ignoring the photographer rapidly snapping away to capture his reaction.

Emily notices him and smiles, and his heart beats so loud he's surprised no one else can hear it. "Hey, handsome," she says coyly as she draws closer.

He intertwines his fingers with hers. "I feel like the luckiest man in the world right now."

She leans up on her tiptoes and kisses his cheek, ignoring Tatienne's cries of how she's messing up her makeup. "Not as lucky as I am."

* * *

 _10:44 AM_

It's the first time their parents meet, as they gather around for family pictures. As Emily and Aaron expected, their father get along plenty well. It was their mothers whose reactions they couldn't predict.

Mrs. Rhodes and Mrs. Shore turn out to be an unholy alliance, and they become thick as thieves by the time the photographer announces that the shoot is over.

"At least three grandchildren—"

"—and hopefully an announcement within a year—"

"—they'll be Catholic—"

"—with godparents and everything—"

The bride and groom exchange an exasperated look.

* * *

 _11:36 AM_

"Ah, Kimble!" Tom smiles. "I've been looking for you."

"Mr. President," Kimble greets. "This is looking to be a wonderful event. Well done."

"Thank you, but it's Alex who deserves any compliments. She helped with most of the planning. I just stood around trying to look authoritative."

"I'm glad that you took my suggestion of a White House wedding seriously, even though it's so unconventional when neither the bride nor groom is related to you or the First Lady."

Tom chuckles, shaking his head. "I've long since considered Emily as good as family, and both she and Aaron have not only been invaluable advisors but also friends. They've devoted so much of themselves to the White House. It's only fitting that they got married here."

"I'm also glad about the impact this wedding will have on your administration."

"Oh?"

"You've been plagued by more crises than most presidents, since day one of your presidency. Wouldn't you rather your legacy included a happy event such as this?"

"When you put it that way…" Tom nods, smiling softly. "Yes. Yes, I would."

* * *

 _12:04 PM_

Tatienne clasps her hands to her face in despair as Emily hurriedly munches on some hors d'oeuvres. "God, I'm starving," the bride mumbles past a full mouth.

Alex secures the napkin that is Emily's makeshift bib. "I'd rather we have to touch up your lipstick than have you faint at the altar. Poor Aaron would think you changed your mind."

Emily shakes her head vehemently—Tatienne scolds her for loosening her curls as she rushes over to fix them—as she bites into a piece of bruschetta. "Never."

* * *

 _1:10 PM_

Seth clasps the groom on the shoulder. "You ready, man?"

Aaron tamps down on his grin so he doesn't look too idiotic. "Showtime."

* * *

 _1:15 PM_

"Nah, that's not Aaron," Leo says. "His hair's too curly."

Penny jabs him with her elbow. "You're stupid."

* * *

 _1:31 PM_

"Emily, in the last few years, I have laughed more, smiled more, and felt happier than I ever did before I met you. I promise to support you, respect you, encourage you, and above all, love you so that we can have many more years of laughter and happiness together, and I hope we will continue to be friends, partners, equals, and lovers for the rest of our lives."

"Aaron, from day one, you have constantly pushed me to be better. You make me want to be the best version of myself. I promise, just as you have always lifted me upward, so will I push you. Together there's nothing we can't achieve and no obstacle we can't overcome, and whatever the future holds, we will experience it together, for all our days."

Tom leans over. "Seth, do you need a handkerchief?"

His Press Secretary sniffs, rubbing his eyes surreptitiously. "No, thank you, Mr. President. I'll be fine."

In the end, Seth has to take up the president on his offer when the waterworks really start pouring, once the officiant announces Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Shore.

* * *

 _3:25 PM_

"Hello, everyone. I'm Seth, and as you can clearly see, I'm the third wheel of this trio. Now, I'd like to start off by saying that it's really unfair to make me have to give a speech right after the president, but you know what? If being the best man is the one time in my life I'll have precedence over the president, I'll take it. But seriously, thank you, sir, for your excellent speech, and thank you, Nadia, as well for your amazing one.

"I know many have already said this, but Aaron, Emily, congratulations. Emily, you always look beautiful, but you're even more beautiful than usual today. Aaron, I'm surprised your face hasn't cracked in half already from all the grinning you're doing. But, as you said, Emily has made you smile a lot more since you guys met, so it's all very fitting.

"As most of you know, our couple here had to go public with their relationship a little earlier than they anticipated because of a certain article in _Teen Mode._ We all thought it was going to lead to a ton of fall-out, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Apparently, most people think an office romance is, well, romantic, more than anything, and even more so in a place like the White House, which tends to be the butt of a lot of political jokes and flack. After all, if love can happen in the West Wing, it can happen anywhere. So I rarely say this, but thank you, Abe.

"Now these two haven't always had the easiest relationship, but who does? And not everyone has national crises to deal with on top of everything else. But through it all, they have stuck together and proven to be a power couple to rival the President and First Lady. But they have their normal lovey-dovey moments like the rest of us, too. I can't tell you how many times I've accidentally interrupted a moment—since before they even got together, to be honest. I'll admit it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out why Aaron always got Emily coffee but never me, and why she always worried herself to pieces about him but laughed when she heard I got airsick on Air Force One.

"Once I did figure out there was some chemistry between them, I started—as they call it these days—'shipping' them. You know, as in relationship, because you think they should be in a relationship together, that kind of thing. Well, the joke was on me, because they were already secretly dating by them. I'm sure they had some good laughs behind my back after every effort I made to try to push them together.

"So, Aaron might kill me for saying this, but he has what I like to call 'heart eyes.' You know how in cartoons, sometimes their eyes turn into hearts if they see something they really like or love? That happens to Aaron all the time whenever Emily is in the room. He likes to think he has an impregnable poker face, but when it comes to Emily, he can be embarrassingly obvious. In fact, I was certain that he liked Emily way earlier than I was certain that it was reciprocated. Aaron, you might be the true Slytherin between the two of you, but she's got you beat on the poker face.

"I know we're on a schedule here, so I'm just going to wrap this up by saying this again: congratulations, Aaron and Emily—or as I like to call them, Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes. You guys are worthy of every single 'hashtag Emron' and 'hashtag relationship goals' that has ever trended. You two are not only perfect for each other but also the best friends I could ask for. There's no couple I would rather third wheel more. And I think everyone here today will agree with me that these two have proven that love does, in fact, happen in Washington."

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! If you liked the fic, I hope you'll leave a review saying so. :)**


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